Pros

Cons

Plastic build.
Expensive.

Bottom Line

With a 4.6-inch screen, the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is the smallest premium Android phone.

25 Oct 2017Sascha Segan

For years, we have been dreaming of a small, truly premium Android phone. Sony is bringing it to us. The Xperia XZ1 Compact ($599.99 unlocked) is the first sub-5-inch, no-compromise Android device in years. Along with its big sibling, the Xperia XZ1, the Compact is positioned as the best one-handed phone for anyone into 3D printing, with a really cool 3D-scanning app that will eventually let you share 3D photos on Facebook. It's also powered by a screaming-fast Snapdragon 835 processor, making it the most powerful small Android phone you can get.

Design, Features, and Display

The XZ1 Compact isn't striking at first glance: It looks like just another little plastic-bodied Sony design (although it isn't plastic per se, but a sort of glass-infused polymer). It measures 5.1 by 2.5 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 ounces, so it's considerably smaller and slimmer than even narrow phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8 (5.9 by 2.7 by 0.3 inches, 5.5 ounces), although it has a more traditional 16:9 screen aspect ratio. In that regard, it's more similar to the tiny iPhone SE (4.9 by 2.3 by 0.3 inches, 4.0 ounce), despite being just a tad bigger and heavier overall.

The phone fits comfortably into the hand and reaching across the screen or from top to bottom isn't a problem. It has the same button and port configuration as the XZ1, with a volume rocker, power button, and camera shutter on the right side. The left side has a SIM/microSD card slot that worked fine with a 256GB card. A 3.5mm headphone jack is up top, and a USB-C charging port is on the bottom. Like its larger sibling, the Compact is rated IP68, so it can survive in up to six feet of water for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there's no fingerprint sensor in the US.

Left to right: Xperia XZ1, Xperia XZ1 Compact

Front and center is a 4.6-inch, 1,280-by-720 IPS display. That resolution is lower than most Android phones, but it's fine for the size, at 319 pixels per inch. That's not quite as pixel-dense as the 4-inch iPhone SE (326ppi), but the difference is academic. Text and graphics look fine, and there's no pixelation. Like the XZ1, the Compact has the same Triluminos display that gives it vibrant colors and customization options for color temperature, but HDR 10 is only supported on the larger model. Viewing angles and brightness are good, though the screen is reflective under direct sunlight.

Network Performance and Audio

The Compact supports GSM carriers, but LTE speeds are stopped down a bit lower than on the bigger phone. While the XZ1 can hit gigabit speeds on AT&T and T-Mobile, the XZ1 Compact is specced for 800Mbps. During our testing in midtown Manhattan, we experienced strong network connectivity on T-Mobile, with download and upload speeds ranging between 15Mbps to 20Mbps.

The phone supports Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. There's also NFC, but because there's no fingerprint sensor you can't use it for Android Pay.

Sony has a long string of buzzwords to describe the phone's audio capabilities. The most important is probably AptX HD, which means you get crystal clear audio over Bluetooth 5.0 headphones and speakers. Testing it with the Bose QuietControl 30 for Bluetooth playback and Meze 99 Classics for wired listening delivered clear, crisp sound with rich bass. A pair of stereo speakers on the front give you loud audio with a good deal of depth.

Call quality is great. The XZ1 Compact benefits from strong noise cancellation, resulting in clear transmissions free from background noise. Earpiece volume is loud, as is the speakerphone.

Processor, Battery, and Camera

The XZ1 Compact has a Snapdragon 835 processor under the hood with 4GB of RAM, meaning this little phone doesn't make any compromises on power. In the AnTuTu benchmark, which measures overall system performance, it scored a solid 154,837.

That's a little surprising though, because the Snapdragon 835 paired with a 720p screen should eat benchmarks for breakfast, but the Compact fell slightly short of the XZ1 (165,553) and Galaxy S8 (173,609). We noticed it warming up a bit when running benchmarks and playing games, something we didn't encounter with the XZ1. It's possible Sony is throttling the processor to keep the temperature down.

That said, benchmarks are just part of the performance story. In actual usage, the XZ1 Compact is snappy, handling multitasking and demanding games like GTA: San Andreas without any slowdown. Generally, you get the same overall performance as the larger sibling.

Battery life is average. The phone clocked 5 hours, 40 minutes when we streamed full-screen video over LTE at maximum screen brightness. Compared with the Google Pixel 2 (8 hours, 45 minutes), it's not particularly impressive for a smaller phone. Fortunately, the XZ1 Compact is packed with a number of battery-saving features that help extend screen time by disabling connectivity and reducing brightness and performance. Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 is supported for fast charging.

Camera and 3D Scanning

Here's where things get interesting. Like the XZ1, the main camera is 19 megapixels. It takes clear, sharp shots in most lighting conditions, and also fares decently in low light. Color reproduction is good, and we saw little difference in overall picture quality between it and the XZ1. 4K video is stable at 30fps, and the camera can capture stunning 960fps slo-mo.

The 8-megapixel front camera, meanwhile, can switch between wide-angle and regular formats, and the wide-angle mode was able to fit two extra people into group selfies in testing. There's some mild barrel distortion around the edges of wide shots, but it's a small price to pay for being able to get everyone in.

By far the coolest feature, though, is 3D scanning. This is the first phone (along with the XZ1) with sensors that collect data that can be used by 3D display apps, printers, and potentially games that support 3D models. The preloaded scanning app relies on the phone's Motion Eye sensor, which stacks memory directly under the camera so it can transfer a lot of data at once. Its default modes scan faces, heads, food, and free-form objects. It does quite a good job, as you can see here.

To share a scan, you can export it as a .OBJ file, but it becomes smoothed-out, monochrome, and upside down. You can edit the final result before sharing it to a 3D printer or printing service. Sony says it's working on direct connections to social networks and games, to let you post objects in Facebook's 360 video format, for instance.

Software

The XZ1 and XZ1 Compact are among the first phones we've seen running Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Sony's Xperia UI is running on top, but aside from some minor visual tweaks with widgets and app icons, it sticks pretty close to stock.

Preloaded apps consist of the standard Sony fare like PlayStation and Movie Creator, along with AVG Protection, Facebook, and Spotify. None of them can be uninstalled, leaving you with 22.07GB of storage available out of a total of 32GB. A microSD card is always an option if you need more space.

Conclusions

For $600, the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is the most powerful Android phone you can comfortably use with just one hand. That's increasingly rare to find, and combined with its high-resolution audio and 3D scanning capabilities, the XZ1 Compact is a viable alternative to the pricier Galaxy S8. But if you're not tied to the Android ecosystem, the $399 Apple iPhone SE is still the small phone we most highly recommend. Sony's challenge, as always, will be to sell the XZ1 Compact in a market where very few people buy unlocked phones that aren't from Apple, Google, or Blu.

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About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.

Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed to the Frommer's series of travel guides and Web sites for more than a decade. Other than his home town of New York, his favorite ... See Full Bio